davis a democrat was dogged by a saggy economy, energy blackouts, and frustration from his labor union base. fewer than 900,000 signatures were needed to launch the recall. it took only 65 signatures and $3,500 to get on the ballot. aside from the two candidates a cast of more than 100 characters ended up on the ballot from the famous arnold schwarzenegger arianna huffington, and larry flynt, to the onabsurd. a primary system that now rewards the top two vote getters regardless of party, and taking responsibility for drawing district boundaries away from lawmakers and giving it to state -- senator's panel. joining me now is joe garofoli. welcome back into "the war room." >> i object to calling gary coleman absurd. >> michael: yeah you could have said what are you walking about? how did this turn into this major recall. >> there was a very low turnout for the previous election very nasty where gray davis was up for reelection so the bar was low to have a recall. you had the energy crisis people thought davis bungled it he passed a vehicle license fee to raise money, because the economy